Prarvis
In the Aeon of the Champion ''story series, '''Prarvis '''was a harsh, arid planet on the Norma Galactic Arm, located within the Surdrassil world-tree. It was formerly the homeworld of the ogres, a brutal race of hardened giants who worshipped deities they called the Forerunners. It was also the capital planet of the Grumian Empire ruled over by the ogres. History Ogre domination The ogres used Prarvis as their homeworld, on which they established Highmaul, the largest city in their spacefaring empire. They were led by a single male Imperator, and by a religious sect known as the Brotherhood - a union of male clerics who served the Forerunners with all their hearts and souls. Little did they know tha the Forerunners were servants of the insidious Dark Cosmics; they were illusions of grandeur created by the Chaos Gods themselves to deceive the ogres and dupe them into handing over control of the Surdrassil world-tree, along with their historic empire, to the Void. These clerics, for the most part, where oblivious towards the goals of the Void, which the exception of two Seekers - Il'grogg and Vovasor - who plotted directly with the Chaos God Cxuirva to bring about the Hour of Twilight on that realm. Cxuirva knew the power of the elements on the planet, but its influence wasn't strong enough to directly manipulate them from the confines of outer space. Thus, the eldritch horror spoke directly to the Brotherhood's leaders, specifically Il'grogg, and ordered him to tap into Primus, the planet's elemental plane, in order to summon them. Approaching the ogre emperor, Imperator Glithal'torth, he managed to convince the overlord to journey to the Throne of the Elements, in which he would begin the complex summoning ritual to bring the incorporeal beings into the physical universe, after which they would be promptly enslaved by Cxuirva. This led to a terrible war between the ogres and their Grumian Empire against the orcs. Shaman Thrurn, an ally of the '''elemental spirits', led his dark-skinned people to 'their '''defence, resulting in a run on Highmaul. Ogre-Orc War However, the Grumain Empire was too expansive to take on at once. While Manukang, the ogre general, took care of the Highmaul siege, Glithal'torth and Il'grogg, along with a host of Brotherhood clerics, headed to the Throne of the Elements in order to begin the ritual. Sensing the dangerous void energy in the surrounding area, the Throne self-destructed, sending powerful magic bolts hurtling at the ogres: first it was fire, which burned through ogre ranks, then air which fanned the flames, then a terrible tsunami which rolled relentlessly across the Empire, and finally, a landslide which killed out countless other ogres who witnessed the Throne's destruction. The Brotherhood were massacred, forcing those who bodies were not completely destroyed to flee the scene. The self-destruction of the Throne threw Prarvis' elemental balance into chaos, which severely weakened the orcs' ability to call upon the power of the elements in battle. However, ogre overconfidence came back to hurt the imperials too, because the destruction of the Throne meant that the full power of Primus had been unleashed upon the planet. Within moments, the Empire was fully immersed in water; Highmaul itself was about to be submerged in a colossal wave of hydro energy. As the waves prepared to crash into the ancient city, destroying everything in their path, Thrurn gathered his people and they pooled their willpower, praying for calm and temperance in the face of the looming crisis. Their cries of distress were heard as far back as Throne Hill, the site of the Throne of the Elements, and it answered one last call. The earth itself terraformed around the orcs, providing a rocky barrier between them and the tsunami. When it rolled in, drowning all of the ogres including Manukang, the orcs were kept high and dry. New beginnings The barrier did not disintegrate when the waters subsided, but the orcs were able to climb out of it within a matter of days. Realising that the ogres no longer posed a threat to the world, Thrurn announced that the process of rebuilding the world was to begin; but the elementals, given free reign by the destruction of the Throne, were still chaotic. He instructed the lay orcs to start putting together a settlement, while he led the shaman to Throne Hill. They stayed up there for 2 years, rebuilding the Throne of the Elements, until it was back in order - and with that, Prarvis' elements were once again harmonised. The elemental balance moved from chaos to neutral, implying that all was well. When the shaman returned to the site of Highmaul, they joined the orcs in repairing the physical world, now that the elemental crisis had been remedied. With the passage of time, ogre civilisation died, and orc civilisation rose in its place. As the orcs' territory expanded, so did their population count, and thus, they split up into various clans - Moonbrand, Darkrose, Steelhammer, Frostfox, etc. By the time Thrurn died in -996, at the age of 56, the orcs were in a well-established, thriving, clan-based society. Yet, as it turned out, the ogres - and the dark powers they served - were far from gone. Rise of the demons In -320, the Aeldari, chased all over the universe by their demonic counterparts in the Marching Horde, settled as refugees on the newly-reestablished land of Prarvis. There, High Exarch Versa led her people to a remote corner of the planet where they thought they would not be disturbing anyone, and then founded the city of Eldholme, to monument the extent to which they fell. To their surprise, the orcs were already living on the planet; but they were pleased to discover that the orcs were friendly enough. The two races frequently engaged in mutalistic trade. The demon lord Tiz'galath, who had been violently pursuing the Aeldari across countless world over the past 20,000 years - including Mobius - eventually came across Prarvis. Deciding not to destroy it, however, he surmised that he could use the native population to destroy his hated rivals instead, so they would only notice when it was far too late. At the same time, Il'grogg and Vovasor, who had been trapped underneath the landslide of -1,000 for over 700 years, were sealed in solid blocks of ice below the surface of the land. The ice around their prisons eventually began to melt when the whispers of Cxuivra entered their minds once more, reminding them of their task. Its tendrils burrowing into their psyches, it ordered them - once again - to take down the Throne of the Elements, by any means necessary. Eventually, the two ogres - using extremely covert methods - had found themselves able to reform the Brotherhood among a special sect of ogres who had also survived the destruction of Grumia, and eventually became a powerful faction in their own right, with Il'grogg claiming the title Dark Lord. Meanwhile, Tiz'galath had successfully trained the orc Vez'nan as his first warlock, exchanging power for servitude, and now threatened the balance of power across the entire planet. The combined threat was the worst danger Prarvis had been in since the destruction of the Throne of Elements, but the Elder Shaman of the Moonbrand clan - Ota'tok - only realised one of these: the return of the ogres. Thrurn had calibrated the Throne of the Elements to detect the presence of void energy at a much less sensitive level, but in doing so, had reduced the capacity for it to self-destruct (to prevent another Elemental Reaction). This meant that the likelihood of a takeover by the New Brotherhood was increasingly likely, especially given that the orcs were disunited. Made aware of the impending danger, Ota'tok attempted to warn the other orcs, but they politely asked him to mind his own clan's business. He did not, out of fear, approach the Aeldari, who may have been able to help. Instead, desperate for a solution, Ota'tok ended up talking himself into a deal with Tiz'galath - the very demon Vez'nan was serving. The circle was complete, and the fate of the Eldar seemingly sealed. Blood pact In exchange for 'saving his people' from the New Brotherhood, Tiz'galath explained, the orcs would have to form a pact with the demons that would be bound by blood: the blood of the corrputed giant Surtyr, much of which the demonic colossal voluntarily provided. It would make the orcs into war machines, bred for combat, but it would also make them the eternal slaves of Surtyr and his master, Tiz'galath, turning their allegiance towards the Horde. At once, they descended upon the Eldari and began slaughtering them in their numbers, prompting Exarch Avati to table a night-time meeting of the Exarchs at the Chamber of Light in Eldholme City. During the meeting, as Avati was giving her theory of the orcs' erratic behaviour - demonic corruption - the Chamber was flooded with orc soldiers sent by Tiz'galath to assassinate the five. Versa managed to hold off the orcish onslaught with a magical barrier of light, which bought valuable time for them to escape into the humid jungles of Jarango - and confirmed Avati's theory. Ota'tok, by this point, was attempting to back out of the deal, as the New Brotherhood had allied itself - seemingly - with the orcs. Vez'nan, seeing his opportunity, betrayed Ota'tok and took over the Moonbrand clan. With his warlock underlings of immense power, as well as Il'grogg and Vovasor as the New Brotherhood's void-wielding ogre representatives, he came to command a powerful fighting force that would wreak havoc and destruction on Middle-Earth - and change the course of history with it. Trivia *The Grumian Empire is AoC's counterpart to the Gorian Empire in Warcraft. *The orcs in AoC, like Warcraft, became slaves of demons. Unlike Warcraft, however, their shaman - Ota'tok - wasn't 'tricked' by demons into accepting an offer of power (like Ner'zhul was in Warcraft); there was a credible threat to the planet - the New Brotherhood's efforts to destroy the Throne of the Elements and throw the planet's elemental balance into chaos again, just like Glithal'torth did in -1,000. **Had Ota'tok consulted Versa and her Aeldari, perhaps they would have been able to avoid Tiz'galath altogether. **Versa was adamant that Prarvis could have been saved, and later, when she once again met Princess Azurette (this time on Middle-Earth, where the Ceruleans had been living for several years) she would espouse this sentiment. *The New Brotherhood, led by Il'grogg, allied itself with the orcish armies raised by Vez'nan. This was because Vez'nan had told them the elementals on Middle-Earth were more powerful, and, in their greed, they advanced on the planet like hungry wolves. **Cxuivra was displeased with their apparent betrayal, but had a unique way of punishing them regardless. ''Breaking a promise to a Chaos God is a bad idea. Category:Planets Category:Locations Category:Aeon of the Champion locations Category:Aeon of the Champion articles Category:Smurf Manian's articles